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(No Model.)

A. S. HIGKLEY.

INOANDBSGENT LAMP.

No. 354,788. Patented Dec. 21, 1886.

Fig.1.

WITNESSES.

N. PETERS, MLMMM, Wumnlton. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

ARTHUR S. I'IICKLEY, OF GROTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE JENNEY ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

INCANDESCENT LAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 354,788, dated December 21, 1886.

Application filed June 18,18E6.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR S. IlickLEY, residing at Groton, county of New London, and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Incandescent Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

My said invention relates to the manufacture of carbons for in candescent electric lamps and the manner or method of mounting the same upon the metal conductors which convey the current of electricity to said carbons in such lamps when in operation.

The ordinary method of constructing incan descent lamps is to take a vegetable substance or fiber, or animal substance alone, and carbonize it, then mount it upon a platinum or other conductor, inclose the same in a glass globe and exhaust the air, which produces the incandescent lamp commonly known. I take two or more substances, one an animal pro duct-such as prepared skin, silk, or other animal fibcrand bind, plat, braid, or twist to gether, with or without avegetablesubstance such as broom-corn, manila fiber, or other suitable vegetable substance. In carbons for particular purposes, such as those in which it is desirable that a strong current shall pass, I intermix spun glass in sufficient quantities 0 to render the lamp efficient, as this material upon being highly heated becomes a conductor.

The particular method of mounting relates especially to carbons of considerable size, where the lamps are desired to be used in series and operate under a strong current. For this purpose I construct my conductors in the form of two or more wires or branches, (commonly platinum wires,) which arejoined together out- 0 side the lamp and kept separated within. I then take a carbon formed of two or more rods or bundles of matter, bound or braided or twisted together, except at their extremities, which are kept separated for a short distance, 5 and each of these separated extremities is attached to one of the wires or branches of the conductor. For example, in manufacturing a carbon for the purpose above described, I will take, say, two pieces of broom-corn, soak them in a strong alkali until they become soft and gelatinous, and may place them side by side Serial No. 205.525. (No model.)

with a certain quantity of spun glass or not,

as I may desire. The prepared substance is then passed through a braidcr, which braids silk very closely over it, except at the extremities, which have each had a little fiber bound around them to keep them separate. When the binding or braiding is finished, the whole is soaked in a solution of alum, which hardens and toughens the material, and greatly improves the silk fiber and protects it while carbonizing. The carbonizing is done in the ordinary maniier, except that a little camphor is placed within the carbonizingpot.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows an incandescent lamp constructed in accordance with my invention in elevation; Fig. 2, a section of the same, and Fig. 3 a view of the'material from which the carbons are formed as itappears just before being carbonized.

In said drawings, the portions marked A represent the base of the lamp, B the globe,

C the carbon, and l) the metal conductors.

As will be noticed by an examinatimi of the drawings and as above described, the conductors are divided where they pass through the base of the lamp, and are connected to the extremities of the carbons. This is an advantage in that while the aggregate conducting area is not lessened, it is so subdivided that the expansion consequent upon the heating of any one part is reduced to a minimum, and the danger of cracking the lamp by such expansion is therefore to a great degree obviatcd. It is also an advantage in that should one point of connection prove defective the lamp would not thereby be rendered wholly useless, as the current could pass through the I remaining connection or connections. 9c

I am aware that lamps have heretofore been made with several conductors passing through the base of the lamp; but I am not aware that a single conductor and a single carbon, each having the extremities divided and the divis- 5 ions united in the manner described, has ever before been produced; and while I of course do not limit myself in this particular, I expect to use them mainly, if not wholly, in largesized lamps, as there is little, if any, need of dividing the connections in the smaller lamps. Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A carbon for incandescent electric lamps, composed of an animal and a vegetable substance twisted, platted, braided, or bound together, as set forth.

2. A carbon for incandescent electric lamps, having as an element of its composition a normally non conducting substance which becomes a conductor from being heated.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a carbon for incandescent electric lamps, composed of an animal substance, a vegetable substance,

within the lamp, but joined together without, each division being connected to a division of 20 the extremities of the carbon.

5. The combination, in an incandescent electric lamp, of the base, the globe, the carbon divided at its extremities into two or more parts,and conductors divided correspondingly to the extremities of the carbons and connected thereto, which pass through said base in the divided condition, but are connected outside, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this and a substance which becomes a conductor i 19th day of May, A. D. 1886.

when at a high temperature.

4. In an incandescent electric lamp, the combination, with a carbon having separated or divided extremities, of conductors divided ARTHUR S. HIOKLEY. In presence of- C. BRADFORD, CHAS. L. TnURnnn. 

